Dutch Champions: Loek Van Wely and Anne Haast

7/15/2014 – The Dutch Championships 2014 finished dramatically. In the Men's tournament Loek Van Wely and Sergei Tiviakov battled it out in a tie-break, which Van Wely won 2-0. In the Women's tournament Peng Zhaoquin was close to her 14th title, but in the last round spoiled a winning position against 21-year old Anne Haast who then became Dutch Champion 2014.

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Before Van Wely could hold the winner's trophy in his hand, he had some moments of anxiety. Because it was Wouter Spoelman who had led the field with 4.0/6 before the last round of the Dutch Championship, which this year was played as an eight-player round-robin tournament in the Manor Hotel in Amsterdam.

Manor Hotel, Amsterdam

But in the last round Spoelman lost against Benjamin Bok, while Van Wely and Sergei Tiviakov, who were trailing Spoelman by half a point, won against Dimitry Reinderman and Erwin L'Ami respectively to share first place with 4.5/7 each.

The quiet before the storm: Benjamin Bok and Wouter Spoelman before the last round

Loek Van Wely kept his cool and won the crucial last round game with black

Sergei Tiviakov also had black - and also won.

Thus, a tie-break had to decide about the title. Van Wely won 2-0 and became Dutch Champion for the seventh time.

Games

Tie-Break Games

Women's Championship

In the Women's Championship Anne Haast won the title for the first time. With 5.5/7 the 21-year old finished half a point ahead of Bianca Muhren. Peng Zhaoqin, who had dominated Dutch women's chess for more than a decade, became third.

The decisive game was played in the last round when Haast won against Peng. However, in a well-known line of the Queens Gambit Accepted Haast was lost at a certain moment when Peng missed a chance to reach a winning position through a temporary queen sacrifice - an idea which had already occurred in the stem game of this line, Taimanov-Polugayevsky, Leningrad 1960. Later on, Peng spoiled an albeit worse but still tenable endgame.

See also

1/12/2018 – Today, Friday, January 12, is the official start of the Tata Steel Chess tournament in Wijk aan Zee. Tomorrow, Saturday, January 13th at 13:30 CET, the first round begins. The tournament in Wijk aan Zee is the first elite tournament of the year and always a great celebration of chess. It is also a tournament with a long tradition – this year it celebrates its 80th birthday. The tournament has written chess history and continues to do so today, which makes it tempting to look at some numbers. | Photo: TataSteelChess.com

See also

8/21/2017 – The history of the NK Chess Open began 140 years ago — that is — a long time ago. The city of Dieren hosted not only the first edition ever, but every event for the last 49 years. This year's edition was played between July 25th and August 3rd and crowned champion Sandipan Chanda, ahead of Koen Leenhouts. Both scored 7/9 points. | Photos: Alina l´Ami

Video

The introductory position of the Kasparov Gambit can occur after 1 d4,1 Nf3 and 1 c4, which can appeal to a wide range of players. The usual move order is 1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 c5 3 Nf3 cxd4 4 Nxd4 e5!? 5 Nb5 d5 6 cxd5 Bc5 bringing us to a very sharp position. On this 60 mins, FIDE Senior Trainer Andrew Martin argues the case from the Black side, showing both classic Kasparov masterpieces and games from the present day and suggests that White's defensive task is not easy. This is a practical gambit which will help players at all levels to win more games. It is ideal for must-win situations with Black. It is a gambit that White cannot decline,as if he does, Black gets a good position instantly. White must take up the cudgels and fight!

Enjoy the best moments of recent top tournaments (World Cup, Isle of Man Open) with analysis of top players. In addition you'll get lots of training material. For example 10 new suggestions for your opening repertoire.